The company was founded in 1881, when Kintarō Hattori opened a watch and jewelry shop called “K. Hattori” in the Ginza area of Tokyo, Japan.
Eleven years later, in 1892, he began to produce clocks under the name Seikosha
Hattori quickly recognized the growing worldwide popularity of the wristwatch and predicted that the demand for wristwatches would shortly outpace that for pocketwatches.
Hence the debut of the Laurel in 1913, just 11 years after the first Hattori wall clocks. The Laurel had a silver case, 29.6 mm in diameter, a porcelain enamel dial, and a 12-ligne movement.
Featured Image: The first Seiko brand wristwatch / Image: Seiko museum
Websites: seiko.co.jp, museum.seiko.co.jp
